Mortal: I became invincible after becoming sworn brothers with Han Li.

A white light streaked across the sky and disappeared in an instant.

In less than half an hour, Li Yunfan piloted the Cloud Piercing Boat and flew to the Ironwood Mountains, the northernmost part of Jiangzhou.

"The Ironwood Mountains are rich in ironwood, which is one of the main materials for crafting puppets. If you have time, you can search for it. As long as you can find some ironwood that is over three hundred years old, you will not lack materials for crafting level three puppets in the future..."

Li Yunfan controlled the Cloud Piercing Boat to fly at low altitude, looking at the large ironwood trees growing in the mountains below, and thought to himself.

According to the information he gathered, the abandoned cave was located on the east side of the mountain range, in an inconspicuous low peak, and could be easily found with a little attention.

When this cave was discovered, it caused quite a stir in Jiangzhou. Many local cultivators went to search for treasures, but most returned empty-handed. Only a few people were quick enough to obtain some treasures.

Rumors even claim that the cave's owner was likely a Core Formation or even Nascent Soul cultivator, but for some unknown reason, it was abandoned here, allowing visiting cultivators to destroy the formation and freely enter, without ever seeing its owner return.

As a result, many speculated that the owner of the cave was likely dead. The numerous treasure-hunting cultivators became even more unscrupulous. After their repeated visits, the cave was almost completely emptied, with even the stone tables and chairs being taken, leaving only a natural, cold cave that could not be taken away.

After that, this place gradually faded from people's sight. However, more than seventy years ago, someone discovered a blue spiritual fire in the cold cave of the cave, and it had already begun to develop intelligence.

This rumor instantly ignited the treasure-hunting desires of the cultivators in Jiangzhou, who flocked to try and subdue the spiritual fire.

This time, however, things were not as easy as before. Not only did no news of the spirit fire being subdued emerge, but more than a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators died, including disciples from families such as the Chan and Han families. Later, the Core Formation ancestors of these families came here to investigate, but they found no trace of the spirit fire and ultimately had to return empty-handed.

Because of these two events, although the abandoned cave in the Ironwood Mountains is not very famous, it is known to many people. Li Yunfan only inquired once in a small market town in Jiangzhou and learned its exact location.

At this moment, he had already flown above the low mountain peak. With a sweep of his divine sense downwards, he discovered the abandoned cave dwelling carved out inside the mountain.

Upon landing at the foot of the mountain, Li Yunfan leaped off the Cloud Piercing Boat, waved it back into his storage bag, and then carefully examined the cave dwelling in front of him.

After glancing at it twice, he silently recited the incantation to conceal his aura completely before slowly walking into the cave.

Based on the information he received, he deduced that since the spirit fire had already possessed some intelligence, it was very likely to return to this place if it had not been taken away by someone.

This was not a random guess, but a conclusion drawn from the rumors about spirit fire he had heard, as well as the records of spirit fire in ancient books.

When he was preparing to absorb the Earth's Lung Fire, he specifically searched through the ancient books in Yellow Maple Valley and found some records about spiritual fire. It was because of this that he felt at ease to absorb the Earth's Lung Fire.

After participating in the Sword Trial Tournament, he took a few days off from his cultivation to visit the "Yunhao Hall" of the Luoyun Sect, where various books were stored, and found many new records about spiritual fire.

According to ancient records, there are countless spiritual flames in the world, each with its own unique form. Some are scorching flames that can burn enemies, while others are extremely cold flames that can freeze enemies. There are even some innate flames that possess various incredible and heaven-defying supernatural powers.

Among them, there is a very special type of spiritual fire, which is the innate spiritual fire born in extremely cold places. As the saying goes, things will turn into their opposites when they reach their extremes. Given the right conditions, it is not impossible for a scorching spiritual fire to be born in the ice.

It was precisely because he knew of the existence of this kind of spiritual fire that Li Yunfan guessed that if the spiritual fire had escaped back then, it might have returned to this cold cave several decades later.

The entire cave is very large, almost hollowing out the inside of the mountain. After entering the cave, there is first a passage several meters long, then a huge stone hall. After passing through the stone hall, there is another short passage, followed by another small stone hall, which connects to a third doorway in a different direction.

Li Yunfan frowned, slowly releasing his divine sense to investigate what was connected behind the three doorways.

A moment later, he withdrew his divine sense, turned around and walked towards the doorway on the right. After a few steps, he arrived at the third stone hall, which was empty except for a deep cave about ten feet wide in the middle, emitting wisps of cold air.

He slowly walked to the cave entrance and looked down. He saw a white light shining inside, the cave walls were covered with crystal-clear ice crystals, and a layer of white mist shrouded the depths, making it impossible for him to see the specific situation inside.

Then, with a thought, his spiritual power surged into his eyes, causing them to emit a faint spiritual light, with a hint of green luster.

With the help of his spiritual eyes, he finally saw the scene below through the white mist. After a moment's thought, he once again released his divine sense to explore the depths of the cold cave, and the shape of the entire cold cave immediately appeared in his mind.

It turned out that this was not a vertical deep pool, but rather a vase-shaped pool that was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. Although the opening was only about ten feet in size, the space below was more than ten feet in size.

Just then, Li Yunfan's breath hitched, his eyes flashed with extreme excitement, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up.

"The spirit fire has actually returned!"

Deep beneath the icy cave, a pale blue spiritual flame floated silently in mid-air, surrounded by wisps of white, chilling energy that were constantly being absorbed by the flame.

This spiritual fire is actually cultivating by using the cold air inside the cold cave!

"It seems the rumors were true; this fire has indeed developed some intelligence, and it can even absorb cold energy to strengthen itself!"

As Li Yunfan thought about it, his desire to subdue the fire grew even stronger.

It should be known that spiritual fire, a rare and precious thing of heaven and earth, is not easy to be born. If it is to awaken its intelligence, it will take thousands or even tens of thousands of years!

Only spirit fire born in special places has the potential to develop a trace of intelligence ahead of time.

Slowly withdrawing his divine sense, Li Yunfan temporarily left the cold cave stone hall and returned to the entrance of the cave, where he began to ponder a method to capture spiritual fire.

Now that this fire has gained sentience, it won't be as easy to absorb as before. We need to take defensive measures to prevent it from escaping again. After all, so many Foundation Establishment cultivators escaped before, and this time I'm alone, so I need to be even more fully prepared.